How Mike Hopkins made Washington true believers: Behind the scenes of his 1st season

Note: We spent some time with Washington basketball head coach Mike Hopkins during the final two regular-season games in Seattle. The former Syracuse assistant coach and head-coach-in-waiting gave us special access to him, the program and his family.

Seattle -- On the corner of Mike Hopkins' desk sits a card.

The front of the card is a montage of family photos. A picture of a young couple holding a cake. Another shows the woman now pregnant. A photo of two children at various stages from infant to teenage years. And another with the whole family.

The card says so much about who Mike Hopkins is and how he got the University of Washington basketball community to believe in him and what might have been if he had become head coach at Syracuse.

But the photos on the card are not of Hopkins' family.

***

One of the first players Hopkins met with after getting to Washington was Matisse Thybulle. A 6-foot-5 guard, Thybulle was just the type of player Hopkins wanted for his system, which would feature Syracuse's vaunted 2-3 zone defense.

Thybulle and his father, Gregory, went to see Hopkins.

"He sold us a big story,'' Thybulle said. "We would be able to play this 2-3 zone, lock teams up and play a fast pace, and I'd be able to play comfortably and loose. He'd give me a green light and a long leash. At first, it sounded perfect.''

But Thybulle hesitated, waiting about a week before asking to meet Hopkins in his office.

Halfway through the meeting Thybulle's father surprised him and asked Matisse to go out in the hallway.

"Now that he's decided to stay here, you need to know his history,'' the player's father said.

Gregory Thybulle took out a card. It had been displayed at the funeral of his wife, Elizabeth, a doctor who had died two years earlier from complications for treatment of leukemia.

Almost one year later, this is the card that still sits on Hopkins' desk.

"I see it every time I go in,'' Thybulle said. "I never bring it up, but I see it every time. It means a lot to me to see that.''

***

Another person overheard Gregory Thybulle's conversation with Hopkins that day.

Jaylen Nowell, a 6-foot-4 guard from Seattle, was part of the Huskies' rich 2017 recruiting class that also included McDonald's All-American Michael Porter. Nowell, a four-star recruit, had not yet decided whether to honor his commitment.

"I live down the street,'' Nowell said. "I would be up here almost everyday. Hop and I got to have a lot of talks before I made my decision.''

But more than any conversation with Hopkins, what Nowell saw that day convinced him to stick with the new coach.

"That really struck me,'' said Nowell, whose own father had died of cancer just a few years prior. "It was so meaningful. You never really know who's with you and who's not. With Hop being a new coach, it was great to see that. It wasn't just Matisse, but his dad had completely bought in, too.''

***

Mike Hopkins eventually put together his coaching staff, convinced most of Washington's returning players to stay and held onto one member of the recruiting class.

He took over a team that had gone 9-22 the previous year, including a 2-16 record in the Pacific-12 Conference. The 2016-17 squad had included Markelle Fultz, the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA's 2017 draft.

In his rookie season as a head coach, Hopkins led the Huskies to a 21-13 record. Washington went 10-8 in the Pac-12 as Hopkins was named the conference's Coach of the Year.

From the moment he got the job, Hopkins wanted to put his stamp on the program. He wanted a new brand. A new culture.

"This is what we're going to do. This is how we're going to do it. This is what I believe,'' Hopkins said, repeating his initial message to the University of Washington community. "When I got the job, I told them my approach was 'We didn't come here to rebuild.'

"I immediately wanted to take it back,'' Hopkins said with a chuckle. "But that was my approach.''

Hopkins' approach was put to the test early.

Before the start of the season, the Huskies played a closed scrimmage against Boise State.

"Not too many people know this, but we got killed,'' Washington junior guard David Crisp said.

At least two positives came out of the scrimmage. Nobody witnessed it. And at least Boise State was a Division I opponent.

On Nov. 2, one week before Hopkins' debut as a head coach, Washington played an open exhibition against Saint Martin's University, a Division II school with roughly 1,500 students in Lacey, Wash.

The Huskies came out in Syracuse's 2-3 zone defense. Saint Martin's made six of its first seven 3-point attempts, finishing the game with 15 made 3-pointers.

Washington managed a 91-87 win, but Hopkins had to abandon the zone.

"We won that game and I was pissed,'' Hopkins said. "I'm in Syracuse mode and there's a standard I'm used to.''

Before Hopkins had time to tear into his team, assistant coach Will Conroy talked Hopkins off the ledge.

One week later, Washington won its season opener, outlasting Belmont 86-82 in front of an announced crowd of 5,883 at Alaska Airlines Arena.

At the end of a postgame interview with the Pac-12 Network's Eldridge Recasner, Hopkins asked the former Washington player, "Can I get a hug?''

Hopkins' energy and enthusiasm can be infectious. It can also be a little bit too much to be believed. No engine revs that high for that long. How can anyone maintain that level of excitement without some of it being contrived or fake?

"He has more energy than me and I'm 18,'' Nowell said.

Crisp felt it in his first phone call with Hopkins. Crisp, a native of Tacoma, Wash., was considering his options last spring when Hopkins called.

"He didn't tell me things I wanted to hear,'' Crisp said. "He told me he'd already seen me because I went to prep school at Brewster. He was out there for Syracuse. He remembered me. He watched games from our past season and he told me about my weaknesses and he told where he thinks he could improve my game.

"I don't know what it was, but I could just tell that his energy and how real he was,'' Crisp added. "This is a real genuine dude.''

***

When Hopkins got to Seattle, he immediately went about reshaping the program in his image.

Hopkins said he came to believe in a culture system when reading Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer's book "Above the Line.''

"Everybody has an offensive and defensive system, but you need a culture system. What are you? What are you about? What's the University of Washington going to be? How are you going to define it? That's how we came up with Tougher Together.''

***

On Thursday, Feb. 15, Washington suffered a 70-58 home loss to Utah. It was the Huskies' third loss in a row. The team's mood was down.

On Friday, the team gathered for a practice in anticipation of a game the next day against Colorado.

That morning Hopkins was on the phone with a friend who had watched the previous night's game.

"The guys didn't look like they were having fun,'' the friend said. "They looked stressed.''

Hopkins believed his team had started playing tight after wins over Arizona and Arizona State elevated the Huskies into position for an NCAA Tournament bid.

Conroy was feeling the same vibe. He sent Hopkins a text message. Hopkins replied, "Don't say anything. I already know what you're going to say.''

Hopkins had a plan. He checked with the school's compliance department.

"Everybody thought we were crazy,'' he said.

The coaches brought the team into the gym.

"We were thinking 'Practice is going to be bad,' " Crisp, the junior guard, said. "He's going to get into us.''

Hopkins looked at the players and said, "Go get on your sweats. We're going someplace.''

As the confused players headed out of the gym, a bus was waiting. As they got on, the bus driver blurted out, "'Hey, you guys are going to see Black Panther!''

The players were shocked. Then they erupted in cheers.

The Huskies didn't practice. They went to a theater and watched the blockbuster movie. The next day Washington beat Colorado 82-59.

"It brought everybody together,'' Crisp said. "We had fun again.''

***

The student section at the Washington games is known as the Dawg Pack.

Earlier this season, Hopkins went into the stands after a game to talk to the students.

"We need you guys,'' Hopkins told the students. "We're going to get this right and we need you guys to buy in.''

Unlike most student sections which are located behind a basket or opposite the teams' benches, the Dawg Pack sits on the same side of the court as the Huskies' bench.

Before games, the first two rows of students come onto the court and form a tunnel for the players to run through. As the players warm up, Conroy takes a basketball and whips it to a member of the Dawg Pack, who fires a pass back. Conroy goes down the sideline passing the ball into the stands and catching the return.

Washington head coach Mike Hopkins motions toward the court as bare-chested students behind spell out his last name on their chests in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Gonzaga Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017, in Seattle.

When the starters are introduced, the Dawg Pack gets top billing. The Dawg Pack is introduced as Hopkins and the players turn to cheer the students.

On March 3, Washington hosted Oregon in the final regular-season game. It was Senior Day, but there wasn't a single senior scholarship player on the Washington roster.

A month earlier, Hopkins had met with starters Crisp and Thybulle. He wanted to start the team's two senior walk-ons, Dan Kingma and Greg Bowman.

Crisp and Thybulle enthusiastically endorsed the idea.

The previous spring Bowman had considered leaving the team to focus on academics during his senior year. Hopkins valued Bowman's experience on the team and his connection to the younger scholarship players. He convinced Bowman to stay.

Even though the Huskies were playing a game that would be crucial to their NCAA Tournament hopes, Hopkins started Kingma and Bowman. The two were introduced to the delight of the near capacity crowd.

When Bowman scored the first basket of the game, the crowd roared. The UW players on the bench celebrated.

When Bowman and Kingma came out at the 17:39 mark, Hopkins enveloped both in hugs.

***

Mike Hopkins is a man of routine. When he lived in Syracuse, Hopkins was a regular at the All-Night Eggplant. He loved Julie's Diner in Liverpool. After games, he usually had a late dinner at Santangelo's.

Hopkins is still figuring out his daily routine in Seattle, but he has found Portage Bay Cafe. The Seattle landmark is known for its all-natural menu, featuring pancakes and French toast.

He comes here three or four times a week.

"I've learned a lot,'' he says of his first year as a head coach. "You know how they say you go to college and go to grad school and then you learn more in your first six months on the job than you learned in school.

"That's me,'' he says. "Stuff I'd seen watching Coach for years and then it happened to me and I was like 'There, I get it.' ''

Coach, as Hopkins still calls him, is Jim Boeheim. Hopkins' boss and mentor for 22 years. Hopkins was supposed to succeed Boeheim following the 2017-18 season, but last March, he decided to come to Washington. He still texts with Boeheim after big game and regularly with the SU assistants.

"So many people ask 'Why did you leave?' '' Hopkins says. "There were so many conspiracy theories. This was my decision to come here for a lot of different reasons.''

Hopkins spoke of his connection with Washington athletic director Jenn Cohen. "She has a vision for this place and what it can be,'' Hopkins said.

He noted the fun that former Duke assistants Chris Collins and Steve Wojciehowski were having as they built their own programs. It was an experience he would never have at Syracuse as the caretaker to Boeheim's legacy.

"It's just fun,'' he says when describing the job at Washington. "This is a build. You've got to be out there shaking hands and kissing babies. Letting them know who you are and you are what you represent.''

Hopkins, dressed in Washington sweats, downs his eggs and pancakes. He's talking about being a head coach.

"I've had people say, 'Mike, you need to do this or you can't do that,' '' he said. "I'm going to be Mike Hopkins. Take it or leave it. I like to laugh. I hug players. Sometimes my language is horrible. Sometimes I say things that you'll think 'What did he just say?' I have my own way.''